Damp shade

Choosing the right plants for shady spaces is a dilemma every gardener is confronted with.

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Choosing the right plants for shady spaces is a dilemma every gardener is confronted with. It may be deep shade where an entire site faces north. Or maybe much of it is shrouded with tall tree canopies.

Or it could be a dapple shaded spot under birch trees. But whatever shade it is, it exercises the minds of the nation's gardeners - and is often considered the greatest gardening challenge.

Not for me though... I find it a delight as most often shade loving plants have a wonderful freshness about them as they are allowed to stretch out under trees or in dark damp places.

Even the thought of a dark damp place immediately brings ferns to my mind. They conjure up feelings of a leafy woodland floor, of a trickling stream under a dense tree canopy.

There is nothing like the unravelling of their brown hairy fronds that open up into bright green lacy leaves breathing life into every corner.